once Apple makes the UI guidelines and hardware parameters clear, OS X developers will be free to port their apps. I would guess that that process won't be that much a barrier. However, I also believe a 10" tablet will be somewhat hardware constrained in such a way that certain marquee apps such as Photoshop or FCP just aren't going to be able to run well enough, so they won't be allowed to run at all.

I imagine the next iPhone SDK and Xcode will focus even more on aiding porting - from iPhoneOS or MacOSX - to the new interface & related technologies.

And then I suppose Apple will reject apps that don't move fully to their new Touch interface guidelines, until they fit a very specific look and feel that Apple has in mind. That would cause complaints, but could also be the key to redefining the way things are done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasonMcD

A Tablet with gestures - that can splatter paint in various sizes and shapes depending on the pressure applied to the screen.

And if you spray too much paint, it runs down the screen (it can use the accelerometer to work out which way is down). So when you paint if the wet paint starts running down the window you need to put the tablet flat until it dries?

Whether someone likes or hates Apple you have to be amazed at how the U.S. and parts of the world stops and holds it's collective breath for every Apple event. Others try to copy and even beat Apple by releasing their products (ex. CES), but while they combat each other for media coverage Apple lays in the cut and releases with the entire world watching - getting all eyes and coverage.

I'm not a big buyer of Apple (most products cost too much for my thin pockets), but I always look forward to seeing their innovation, because it's funny to watch other companies try to duplicate and copy. Yet they seldom if ever get the same Apple type media coverage. For all we know this tablet could fail like the cube, but it could also change technology forever. I will get no work done that morning with my computer watching the blog sites for photos and info.

PA Semi was actually working on two architectures - ARM chips, and ultra low power PowerPC chips. So they are hitting the ground running, and it's been about 2 years since the purchase.

Hmmm, I did not know that P.A. Semi was actually working on ARM chips at the time of their acquisition by Apple. In that case, yes, they could hit the ground running and the 1.75 year timeframe since their acquisition might be plausible in taping out a new chip. The media sources I read at the time did not mention the ARM team although it makes perfectly good sense (a real reason to acquire the company).

I would expect the new chip to be a partial SoC, with future designs to have more functionality built into the silicon, eliminating additional chips. In terms of performance, this may end up giving Apple a serious competitive advantage.

Whether someone likes or hates Apple you have to be amazed at how the U.S. and parts of the world stops and holds it's collective breath for every Apple event. Others try to copy and even beat Apple by releasing their products (ex. CES), but while they combat each other for media coverage Apple lays in the cut and releases with the entire world watching - getting all eyes and coverage.

I'm not a big buyer of Apple (most products cost too much for my thin pockets), but I always look forward to seeing their innovation, because it's funny to watch other companies try to duplicate and copy. Yet they seldom if ever get the same Apple type media coverage. For all we know this tablet could fail like the cube, but it could also change technology forever. I will get no work done that morning with my computer watching the blog sites for photos and info.

See? This is EXACTLY what I mean! How can you say all that yet satisfy with reading blog updates and watching for blurry pictures?
Events like these must be seen LIVE to be fully appreciated. Couldn't someone at least run a live stream off of a smartphone video feed?

Not to burst your bubble, but orange is not a "calming colour" in any universe I ever inhabited. More like the exact opposite.

You hit it Gazoobee:

Meaning of the Color Orange
Meaning, symbolism and psychology of color: All About the Color orangeOrange, a close relative of red, sparks more controversy than any other hue. There is usually strong positive or negative association to orange and true orange generally elicits a stronger "love it" or "hate it" response than other colors. Fun and flamboyant orange radiates warmth and energy. Interestingly, some of the tones of orange such as terra cotta, peach or rust have very broad appeal.

Meaning of the Color Orange
Meaning, symbolism and psychology of color: All About the Color orangeOrange, a close relative of red, sparks more controversy than any other hue. There is usually strong positive or negative association to orange and true orange generally elicits a stronger "love it" or "hate it" response than other colors. Fun and flamboyant orange radiates warmth and energy. Interestingly, some of the tones of orange such as terra cotta, peach or rust have very broad appeal.

While it is commonly believed that the P.A. Semi engineers are working on new ARM designs, I am not sure if the timing is right.

These guys were previously working on PowerPC designs. I don't know if it is reasonable to think that they can come up to speed on a new architecture (ARM), design, tape out and release a new chip in a year and a half.

P.A. Semi has a lot of ARM expertise, a lot of the staff used to work on ARM designs before P.A. Semi.

However you are right in that Apple only bought PASemi fairly recently (April 2008). It usually takes a year from tape out to physical chips you can use. I somehow think that making a full SoC design in 8 months is quite infeasible unless PASemi were already working on such a design.

Of course if they bought in IP (dual-core ARM Cortex A9 with cache, PowerVR graphics, ARM AMBA bus, etc) it could be a lot simpler to glue things together, and they could reuse their memory controller, L2 cache, I/O unit (or subset). They'd need to add USB and a security/encryption module. Still quite a squeeze. Unless they were working on such a design already before the purchase.

P.A. Semi has a lot of ARM expertise, a lot of the staff used to work on ARM designs before P.A. Semi.
[]
Of course if they bought in IP (dual-core ARM Cortex A9 with cache, PowerVR graphics, ARM AMBA bus, etc) it could be a lot simpler to glue things together, and they could reuse their memory controller, L2 cache, I/O unit (or subset). They'd need to add USB and a security/encryption module. Still quite a squeeze. Unless they were working on such a design already before the purchase.

It does seem like we should expect something from them soon. I check the iFixit site for PA Semi chips (as if I would know what to look for \) with new HW release. One idea was that it was mostly for the employees, but I dont see buying the failing company for hundreds of millions when they could have just pilfered the staff for nearly nothing as a viable move so there must be some valuable IP associated with the company.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gescom

Why "latest creation"?

So you can buy things you don't need.

Its a teaser ad to get people talking. Anything they release will be a new creation so this may have nothing to do with a tablet. They know what these sites are talking about and so are making the most of the free buzz.

PS: Most of everything we buy we dont need. Im stocking up on moist towelettes just in case.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

Some on an Internet forum see the paint-splattered design on an announcement for a Jan. 27 news conference as a clue to what the device does or is named.

By David Colker

January 19, 2010

With anticipation of the new Apple Inc. tablet computer -- or whatever it is -- at a fever pitch, every tiny thing the company does is noted, analyzed and discussed with an intensity the CIA might envy.

Take the abstract, paint-splatter design on the news conference invitations that went out Monday for the Jan. 27 introduction of the mystery product. The Mac faithful immediately started posting their ideas on the Appleinsider Internet forum about what the design, with the famed bite-out-of-the-apple logo in the center, could mean.

Some thought the splatter was a clue to new products. "Maybe Apple is signaling . . . paint and drawing software," said Addabox.

Some thought it was a clue to the device's name. Daddybone reasoned: "Where do we see such paint? From an artist. And what does an artist work on? A canvas. Behold: Apple's latest creation is called the Apple Canvas."

Meanwhile, Igenius took a cosmic view, writing: "Emerging from and replacing the confusion of multiple paint splatters, Apple stands on the solid background of a calming color, shining with a simple, familiar white purity. . . ."

No wonder people don't use their real names on forums.

Rot'nApple took a more personal view: "Apple had a paint ball fight and didn't invite me?"

Perhaps the most reasoned of all was Cbsofla, who sought to calm the frenzy. "Sometimes," he wrote, "a splatter is just a splatter."

It is probably ignorant to even bother reading tea leaves on this. But then again, if the shoe fits...

I'm a little intrigued by the fine line with the with rounded corners in the invite design. What is interesting to me is that the shape is left open with straight lines that just end at the bottom. If they weren't trying to hint at the device I don't think the designer would use the line this way. It isn't an aesthetically pleasing element, and neither is it an effective framing element. And I don't think the designers at Apple just threw this thing together.

My impression is that it is meant as a tease/hint at the form of the device - that there is something unexpected/unique about the bottom edge, perhaps.

Then again if it is just that the image has been improperly cropped where I've seen it then... never mind!

He missed my post where I mused the splatter represented the history of tablet, a total mess, with Apple coming to the forefront to leave the others behind.

And he missed mine when I called it a Rorschach Test, which I thought was pretty good.

Quote:

Oh man, I can't believe all the rumor fun is about to end and in one week we'll be left with some stupid "product". Meh, rumors are much more fun.

True story. The media does often miss the point of why many of us avidly follow Apple rumors. It's got less to do with being one of the "Mac faithful" (get a new cliche, already!) and a lot more to with it being just good fun to try to figure out what Apple is going to do next.

Once upon a time, Apple did stream their live events and even the Keynote Address at MacWorld. Sadly those days are now long gone. FWIW, it must have cost them a small fortune, but it was great fun to watch, seeing how the majority of us couldn't or wouldn't be there even if invited. Back when they did stream the live functions, I used to block out that time on my calendar, lock my office door and put on a set of headphones. It used to drive my staff nuts trying to figure out exactly what I was up to.

Pity the agnostic dyslectic. They spend all their time contemplating the existence of dog.

I have been hoping that Apple will use all its retail stores when it announce new products. Imagine all the stores that has auditoriums will do live video streams of the event, and after your can buy or play with the new products.

if they were to do that, why bother with a press announcement.

Also, despite the rumors that the tablet is in production it is unlikely that a decent amount of units would be ready on the day of the announcement. and it is also not their usual form. even when something is available right away, that means online and they are shipping stuff to the stores that day or the next with it available by the weekend.

actually, i do know about that stuff. And i've heard they are all just not made for the casual PC/MAC user in mind and it's kind of a pain.

Look, if Apple doesn't offer it, there is no reason to want it. I've heard that most software is not made for the casual PC/Mac user in mind, so all I use is the preinstalled software that Steve wrote for us.

And if there is no app for that, it is something we don't need anyways. Personally, I'm GLAD that they don't teach art history, because it would make the schools worse for pretty much everybody. And besides, nobody wants art history. I never use art history.

But if Apple gives us art history, it will be implemented SO GOOD that we will all wonder how we lived without it. We will all know that Apple delayed it until it could be done RIGHT. Everybody else tries art history and fails, but Apple will do it completely different, for the rest of us.

My guess is that all the ink blots are a clue that this device is going to revolutionize the printing industry. Apple wants to do for magazines, comic books and textbooks, what they did for the music industry.

Now that is the most sensible thing I've heard. I can get behind that. Could also be a stab (Apple likes to stab at inferior products) at the Kindle for not supporting color.

This graphic is obviously representing a palette, such as a painter would use. I would think that the artist's thumb-hole in an electronic palette would be unnecessary, however.

Perfect.

Apple once again changes the paradigm by revealing their new product as the "iPalette" - simply because being a new Apple product, it must be unique (or at least sufficiently different) to add value.

It will of course have to set itself apart from the market by NOT being what everyone thinks will be a tablet. One way to do that is to reveal new features to make it more than just a normal tablet. Another way is to group several of the newest functional features so that it actually IS a new/unique grouping of applications & technologies.

What could they be? Start by considering what I'd like to have in the next generation of the iPod Touch. This is one of the most underrated platforms of this age. I can use it to do everything my laptop can do (functionally), except for reading & writing to optical media. Watch movies, read/send e-mail, browse the web, use VOIP, etc. All its power is limited only by the necessity of using such a tiny workspace (and a cellular connection).

If my iPod Touch were 6, 8 or 10 inches across it would be perfect. Adding an optical drive would be impressive but since Apple left that out of the MacBook Air, I don't think they would include it in the iPalette. If Apple sold an iPallete that was simply a dock for my iPod Touch (or an iPhone) that turned it into a tablet with a larger screen - that might be a good way to go too. It would leverage value back on to the products we already own. Extending the usefulness of existing technology used to be big business but today's market dictates new product replacement way too often. Selling the iPallete with an iPod Touch or iPhone would be brilliant marketing, but too much to hope for.

I just can't wait for iSteve to tell me what I am going to buy! I don't care how much it costs! I am going to get in line 3 days before the launch so I can be the first one to get one!

I love Steve and Apple. Without them, life would not be worth living.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iGenius

Look, if Apple doesn't offer it, there is no reason to want it. I've heard that most software is not made for the casual PC/Mac user in mind, so all I use is the preinstalled software that Steve wrote for us.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iGenius

And if there is no app for that, it is something we don't need anyways. Personally, I'm GLAD that they don't teach art history, because it would make the schools worse for pretty much everybody. And besides, nobody wants art history. I never use art history.

But if Apple gives us art history, it will be implemented SO GOOD that we will all wonder how we lived without it. We will all know that Apple delayed it until it could be done RIGHT. Everybody else tries art history and fails, but Apple will do it completely different, for the rest of us.

Right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by iGenius

You don't need to see it live. Nobody else wants to see it live. It is better that it is not broadcast live.

And once Apple starts broadcasting live, I will be SOOOOOOOOO glad they
waited until they could implement it properly. It will amaze everybody and all the other companies will try to copy them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iGenius

Nobody really knows what they want or need, except Steve. But when Apple comes out with a new product, everybody in the world realizes that they can't live without one.

Kind of overplaying your hand here, don't you think? At some point this seems to be less about fan boys and more about something going on with you.

They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.